Today we say hi to Greg Carter, co-founder of Chimu Adventures, Australia’s very own Latin America & Antarctica travel gurus.
We teamed up with Chimu last year to take a shipful of loyal Places We Go viewers to Antarctica and had such a great time, we’ve partnered again to take our guest TV travel reporter and a lucky friend to Chile to film an episode for our sixth series! Here, Greg tells us a little about Chimu and shares some excellent Chile travel tips with us…
When did you start Chimu Adventures and why?
In 2003. We started due to a lack of flexible touring arrangements in Latin America, looking to provide good value tours – individual touring at group prices!
What is it you love about this part of the world that you chose to start a company specialising in travel there?
Besides being married to a South American (obviously!), I love the diversity, the colours, the wildlife, the smells, the food, and the ancient cultures that thrived across the continent. Really, there is nothing I don’t like!
Favourite memories of travelling through Chile?
Torres del Paine National Park with my 3 and 6 year old daughters. The emptiness of this landscape is like no place on earth and the warmth of the people at the bottom of the world is legendary.
Finish these sentences for us Greg…
The food you have to try is...a very closely ran race between Pastel de Jaiba (Chilean Crab Pie) or Patagonian slow cooked BBQ lamb!
If you do nothing else in Chile, you must…drink a glass of Camenere – a grape lost to the world in the late 1800’s and rediscovered in Chile about 30 years ago. It’s a distinctive Chilean wine.
The locals in Chile are…warm, hospitable and passionate about their country.
My most life-changing experience in Chile is…standing breathless on boulders in the Atacama National Park in Chile’s north. Looking at the emptiness and standing in awe at nature’s creation!
The one thing that never fails to surprise me about Chile is…it’s nature, and how a modern developed country can work in harmony with it. Chile is a fantastic example to the rest of the world, with a modern economy sitting aside 36 national parks and a protected area of over 9.2 million hectares.
Any other travel tips for our competition winner and their friend? Pack a few spare memory cards for the camera, your sense of adventure and be prepared to explore our closest South American neighbour. You won’t be disappointed.
Are you ready to travel to Chile?
Check out Chimu’s amazing range of trips to this incredible part of the world!
Greg Carter fell in love with Latin America the first time he set foot there. He was in Lima, surrounded by hundreds of people screaming at him to get in their taxis! Now he spends two months a year in South America with his Peruvian wife and children, searching high and low for new properties, routes and Chile travel tips and experiences to tell customers so they can build the best itineraries.
Thanks Greg!
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